beschermann



UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGS. H. BESCHERMANN, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y.

HANDLING HIDEs.

Specification of lLetters Patent No.

To all wiz/0m t may concern.'

Be it known that I, AUGUs'rUs HENRY BESOHERMANN, a native of Prussia,resident more than one year previous to the date hereof in the UnitedStates and having duly declared my intention to become a citizenthereof, and new of the city, county, and State of New York, .tanner andleather manufacturer, have invented and made and applied to use certainnew and useful improvements in the arrangement of wellknown mechanicalmeans by which labor will be saved in the handling of hides and skinsduring the successive processes of washing, liming, bating, and-tanningthereof to convert the same into leather, which said improvements arealso applicable to stuffing or dubbing hides and skins to finish themafter the tanning process is completed, such improvements consisting inthe application of rollers placed near the top and nea-r the bottom ofthe vats, prepared for these purposes, the rollers carrying an endlessapron or web onto which the hides or skins aresecured. The rollers, withthe webs and skins, are then rotated by any competent power actingthrough inter or bevel gear wheels or direct and intermediate wheels andpinions or by chain bands and stud, wheels or by cranks, and when fittedin any of these modes the rollers carry the web, with the raw orprepared hides or skins, successively down into and upward in thewashing, liming, hating, or tanning liquor in the vat, to be operated onin a considerable number during each operation, thereby saving labor andtime, and for which improvements I seek Letters Patent of the UnitedStates; and that the said improvementsare constructively set forth inthe following description and shown in the drawing annexed to and makinga part Aof this specification wherein- Figure l., is a sectionalelevation, showing the position of the rollers and band, or web. Fig.2., is an interrupted elevation, wit-h one side or end of the vatremoved, to show the gearing. Fig. 3 is a partial plan of the operativeparts in place. The other figures are separately noticed, and the sameletters and numbers, as marks of reference, apply to the like parts, inall the several figures.

a, a, are parts of the vat, o., is a pulley, to communicate with anycompetent power,

this is mounted on a shaft l., which is sup- 4,851, dated November 14,1846.

ported Vby bearings in the sides of the vat, in any manner, that willprevent leakage through the journals and bearings; c, c, are miterwheels, set at equal distances on the shaft l., and gearing into similarmiter wheels d. d., on t-he ends of theupper tier of rollers e. e.,these are supported in cross bars 2, 2, lying across the vat; f, is alarger of rollers m lm, these are supported in cross bearers 5; 5.,corresponding with the upper bearers 2. 2.

n, nf, are two rollers, lying near the surface of the liquor in the vat,and serving to tighten the endless apron 0. 0., and, at Y the sainetime, extend the upper portion .of the apron, so that it becomes aplatform, on which the hides, or skins, may be hooked or skewered, orsewed at the corners, or secured, in any convenient manner, that willenable the band to carry them successively over each upper roller, n.nf, and e. e., and under the lower rollers m m., through the liquor thenin use when power is applied to turn the pulley b, and shaft l. Theeffects of this process are, that the skins aref alternately crooked, indifferent or opposite directio-ns, on the rollers, and straightened out,on the apron, which tends to loosen, detach, and wash off, all theexcrescent matter, on both surfaces of the hides, or skins, in thekthree first operations, and prepare them, quicker, and better, forreceiving and absorbing the tannin matter, when immersed, in the samesuccessive ymanner, in the ooze vat, which last vat may be made of sucha depth, that the pressure of the vert-ical column of ooze, in the lowerpart, when vused to tan heavy hides shall be equal to, or exceed that ofthe atmosphere outside the vat. To facilitate any of these operationsbut particularly the hating of the hides the rollers may either beriiied on the surface, or made irregular or unequal in any other mannerin the several parts of their diameters but so arranged that aprojection in any one roller, when in motion shall present itselfopposite to an indentation in the next roller. In some cases itr may beproper to machine is the endless band described as an Y liable todisruption by its own weight and the same face of the hide always passesneXt both the upper and lower rollers and personal attendance isgenerally needed to keep them in place. By using the band as a part ofthe machineand` acting in combination with a multiplication of smallrollers, hides or skins of any size, thickness or form may be secured toit and the upper or outward faces on the top rollers are subjected to anip in the bights passing over the rollers by which they are distendedand the pores opened to imbibe the fresh ooze while the water iscompressed out of the faces neXtthe rollers and these are again readyfor fresh ooze the faces which have been distended on the top rollersare compressed on the lower rollers and the others distended in thebight upon the rollers by reverse nips to those which have taken placeon the top rollers by thus alternately distending and compressing thefaces of the hides the mechanical operation of the combined bands androllers assists the chemical combination of the gelatin and tanninwithout so much liability to disruption and not requiring personalattendance after the skins or hides are properly secured on the apron ina diiferent manner and with greater effect than by any other knownmachine. y

No other known arrangement and combi nation of mechanical means can beused in all the various processes of washing liming bating tanning andstuffing or dubbing hides, and no similarity exists in the materialsoperated on or the obj ect obtained when small and multiplied rollersare used with an endless band for the purpose of dyeing and washingwoven materials of any kind as the differences of substance preclude anybenefit by alternate compression and distention of the fabric ormaterial operated on.

The Fig. al, shows a mode of fitting the rollers with plain small gearwheels on the ends near the power and having a small y leading orintermediate pinion between each pair of wheels, the Fig. 5, shows therollers carrying stud wheels itted with a band chain and Fig. 6, showsthe rollers fitted with cranks the pins of which are jointed to onedriving bar. ications of the means for enabling the power to turn therollers all in one direction the connection with the power may be in anyusual mode therefore need not be detailed here; and as all the severalparts used are well known, no claim can lie for them irrespective of themanner in which they are constructed and the purposes for which they areemployed.

In either of these modi- Therefore my claim for that which is new and ofmy own invention and what I desire to secure by Letters Patent islimited to- The application of rollers in combination with an apron orendless web, and construct- A. BESCHERMANN.

Vitnesses W. SERRELL, LEMUEL WV. SERRELL.

